Saturday, December 20, 2014

Finals Week Planning

Finals week is stressful but my method keeps me sane. I'm sharing today how I don't stress very much during finals week and it's pretty easy to follow along with for anyone interested :) It is all based on time management. That is the biggest stress reliever that a person has control of in college.

First, I make a list of all the topics on the exam. This includes new and old, usually breakdowns of the amounts of each if given and any formula sheets or things I am responsible for during the final.

For example, my IE 460 final, more on that later, let me have 3 formula sheets front and back. I always keep my old exam ones but I knew I had that much space to cram as much as I could into a sheet to help me. I like to make these ahead of time and highlight every title so I can find everything quickly.

Then, I lay out a calendar of all the things I have to do during those couple weeks before finals. Hopefully, next semester, the lines are a little more straight...

Lastly, I fill in the calendar with all the things that I need to study, one topic a day. I find this gives me enough time to go through all the examples, understand the notes, find it on my formula sheet and ask questions to my TAs and professors. As you can see, I also start with my first exam and study for my last exam closer to the actual exam. Too much info in my brain makes me do worse so I try to keep as much of the closest exam in and most of the further out exams out.

So simple, right? This has worked for me for a couple of semesters now and I really suggest it to anyone who is not doing well in classes or doesn't have a lot of time to spend cramming right before the exam. I also suggest bright pens and a fun way to mark what you have finished. Seeing that I completed things spurs me on to finish more on my list!